Stop depending on foreign aid – Nana Addo tells African leaders
President Nana Akufo-Addo has advised his African counterparts to stop depending on foreign aid.
According to him, the continent’s many challenges will be resolved if African leaders learn to devise internal measures to address.
“… To construct a better path for the nation. Even more importantly is for us to position our nation’s economies on path of self-sustaining growth,” he added.
The President made this appeal in a presidential debate with President Macky Sall of Senegal during the ongoing 5th edition of the Africa CEO Forum in Geneva.
He further stressed the need for African countries to create independent systems to harness their human and material resources to build the nations without aid.
Touching on challenges facing Ghana, the President said the private sector has suffered major deficits, such as poor access to credit, high-interest rates, erratic power supply and an unfriendly business climate.
He was however added that government is taking drastic measures to resolve them.
President Akufo-Addo pointed out that, his government’s first budget outlines some fairly radical, new measures including the abolition and reduction of taxes to deal with these challenges.
“We have taken off as much as GH¢1 billion in taxes out of the revenue net for business operations in Ghana, with the commitment of doing more.”
The revival and modernization of Ghana’s agriculture, he told the panel is also a major venture that Africa should focus on to create employment and provide jobs for the people.
According to the President, governments on the continent must look at ways to address the challenges confronting the agricultural sector.